The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1887-06-02

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s. sss Take a, look at your gibbet, Abram,'
he cried, with a. nDcking laugh. you
cannot say that i have chosen it badly;'
and he pointed toward monster pine
tree occupying the center Of the clearing,
trunks, extended from the sides like the
arms Of q huge candelabra.
3; atA All summer long the. tourists of the
mountains will come to call upon you as
you came to call upon me-for which, my
pretty sblackbird, approaching me with
curses, you will hang up there
3e.sssIf you had seen the face of that mon
ster, bis lips trembling with rage, piss
hands as big as ,battledores, and covered
with rough and hairy skin, you would
have known at once that prayers and APP
peals to: his mercy would simply have been
+ time thrown away. It only remained for
me, to die, and to die bravely for the honor
of my division.
Put up the rope, Louis Francois
called to his brother; sstie it to one Of the
lower branches; while waiting we will
!. amuse ourselves with the gentleman who
explores so well.
taThe amusement of Petit Francois con-
sisted in binding me securely to the trunk
:. Of q. tree, utter which he took off his coat,
rolled up his sleeves, and arranging him
self some twenty PAGES in front OF me,
2 went to work to make target Of me, the
missiles used being heavy, jagged stones
which his brother collected for him be-
meath the cliffs. The first stone missed
ne, but gradually, as Francois warmed to
his work and aimed with greater precision,
they began to tell. One broke my wrist;
smother buried itself in my ribs; the third
crushed my nose, knocked out my teeth
and tore the flesh from my cheeks.
ssFrom this on knew no more-I had
tainted away
ssWhen came to myself again was
resting against the pine that was to have
been my gibbet; Bijou was licking the
blood from my face, and before me, lying
on the snow, two dead bodies-Petit
Francois and my own corporal. The lieu
tenant who had been on guard at the
Vilemay bent over me, rubbing me as hard
as he could, trying to restore me to con-
seriousness.
s.Do not talk, Abram,'' said he, as I
struggled to speak; s'the villains have
their deserts, and have decamped with q
shot in their wings. They cannot go far;
as for the corporal, he is done for, Fran
coils also. My bayonet went through his
lungs. You were. in a bad way, my lad,
when we got to you; but must so to
Saint Bergues for aid. Bijou, who saved
you, will stay with You. will wrap you
In; this heavy blanket, and you will do
well till my return. Here Is loaded re-
volver; If those scoundrels return and ap-
proach You pepper them well. "
In due time he returned with re-enforce-
ments and Itters. They placed me on
one Of them, and the corporal and Petit
Francois on the other. The lieutenant,
after seeing that was safely dispatched
to the post at Cure, departed in search Of
the contrabandist's brothers. They were
caught on the frontier Of France, tried and
sentenced to the galleys for life.
IT was three months In the hospital OF
the Good Samaritans, and when came
out of it my face was so ugly that Rosette,
my hancee, would have nothing to 90
with me, and married the grocer OF Des
,Rousses, well known receiver Of stolen
goods, though we could never prove it.
ttThe government stitched stripe upon
the coat sleeve Of the lieutenant, greater
qualification than 100 franc bill, and al
lowed to the widow Of the corporal half the
value of the merchandise which had dis
covered in the cavern.
GAS for myself was made appointe,
and shall always remain SO; Lam too ugly
and too much disiigured to care to be any
thing else. Bijou, my savior, rs the
lieutenant called him, had succeeded in
crawling through the creyice at the base
of the cavern wall, and running to the
post Of Cure had found it deserted by all
save the sentry. Returning toward the
Crouaz, he had followed the trail OF the
lieutenant. and corporal, who, suspecting
that misfortune had happened, started
out to find me.
'lThe gendarme corps of Vaud have
had him christened "Bijou Dor" and
presented him with u cross Of gold, which,
as you see, gentlemen, hangs from his
collar.
g, .'The cavern of Petit Francois is now
known as .Poilechaud' in honor Of my ad-
venture. TRANSLATED for The Enquirer
from the French Of Hugues Miller-D Darier,
by E. c.: Waggener.